Modular Kaizen

Grace L. Duffy

Description

Modular kaizen is a development of necessity in our rapidly changing world where improvement has to happen “on the fly”. Modular kaizen is the counter point to kaizen blitz, where team members are locked in a room to hammer out a solution to some problem or opportunity. In the hectic, interrupt driven environment of many organizations, it is simply not possible to remove critical players from normal operations for any length of time.
Modular kaizen is an improvement approach that integrates quality techniques into the busy schedule of everyday activities. All of the components of an effective kaizen event are planned; however, the activities are scheduled in small segments, or “modules” that fit the rapidly changing time demands of team members and subject matter experts. This approach is complementary to the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) and Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) models of quality improvement.
The author of this book calls upon a 40 year career to incorporate techniques, innovations and lessons learned in the pursuit of effective continuous and breakthrough improvement and use the resources, people, and schedules already in place to get things done.
If you are looking for proven approaches to integrating quality improvement into daily work, this is your book.

Sujets

• Business
• Qualité, hygiène, sécurité, environnement
• Gestion et management
• DMAIC
• Círculo de Deming
• PDCA
• Economics
• Six Sigma
• Roue de Deming
• Management

Informations

• Publié par: ASQ Quality Press
• Date de parution: 04 novembre 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781953079787
• Langue: English

Extrait

Modular Kaizen
Continuous and Breakthrough Improvement
Grace L. Duffy
ASQ Quality Press
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
American Society for Quality, Quality Press, Milwaukee 53203
© 2014 by ASQ
All rights reserved. Published 2013
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Duffy, Grace L.
Modular kaizen : continuous and breakthrough improvement / Grace L. Duffy.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-87389-864-5 (alk. paper)
1. Total quality management. 2. Quality control. 3. Organizational effectiveness. I. Title.
HD62.17.D84 2014
658.4'013—dc23
2013037784
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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Preface
M o dular Kaizen is a development of necessity. Improvement has to happen on the fly in our rapidly changing world. This book is about using the resources, people, and schedules already in place to get things done.
Modular Kaizen is the counterpoint to a kaizen blitz, in which team members are confined in a room to hammer out an opportunity or a solution to some problem. In the hectic, interrupt-driven environment of many organizations, it is simply not possible to remove critical players from normal operations for any length of time.
I draw on 40 years of experience to incorporate techniques, innovations, and lessons learned in pursuit of effective continuous and breakthrough improvement. Part I provides the conceptual model along with steps and tools for process and system improvement in an extremely busy and interrupt-driven workplace. Part II offers three case studies—from manufacturing, healthcare, and aerospace—to show how the techniques work in real time.
If you are looking for proven approaches to integrating quality improvement into daily work, this is your book. It is written for those of us who have to “get it done,” not just talk about it. So roll up your sleeves and dig in.
Grace L. Duffy, LSSMBB, CQM/OE
Tavares, Florida
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank those who contributed to this effort. Part II of this text is a series of three case studies using the techniques of Modular Kaizen. These success stories are written by the team leaders who made the results happen. They have shared their own experience and the tools that fit the specific situations of their improvement opportunity. These leaders are: Elizabeth Burns, CQE, RAB Lead Auditor, ASQ Fellow (Chapter 9, “Automotive Manufacturing Application of Modular Kaizen”) Georgina Daniels, FCPA, FCA: TBDHU quality manager, finance manager, and team facilitator (Chapter 10, “Meeting Effectiveness Evaluation Project”) Barbara Moro: Thunder Bay District Health Unit (TBDHU) executive assistant and team lead (Chapter 10, “Meeting Effectiveness Evaluation Project”) John Adkisson, LSSBB, PMP ATP, FE, ASQ Senior Member: NASA engineer (Chapter 11, “A NASA Space Coast Kaizen Model”)
I also wish to thank the vice presidents and quality directors of Laboratory Corporation of America for their expert suggestions for making this book a better reference for process and continuous improvement. I had the opportunity to share the concepts and tools of Modular Kaizen with these professionals just as the manuscript was in its final development stages. Their input served as the fine sandpaper finishing of the work.
I also acknowledge a long-term working relationship with Dr. John W. Moran, with whom I developed a number of the tools described in this book. Jack’s brilliance in applying quality techniques to a broad range of industries has significantly expanded the science of quality and management.
Many thanks are long overdue to Matt Meinholz, acquisitions editor for ASQ Quality Press. I am indebted to his understanding of the business and quality industry. His advice for focusing my work to best fit the intended audience has been instrumental over the past ten years. I look forward to a continued successful working partnership.

Part I
What Is Modular Kaizen?



Chapter 1
Introduction to Modular Kaizen
M odular Kaizen is an improvement approach that integrates quality techniques into the busy schedule of everyday activities. All the components of an effective kaizen event are planned; however, the activities are scheduled in small segments, or “modules,” that fit the rapidly changing time demands of team members and subject matter experts. Most Lean-Six Sigma texts currently in circulation stress the importance of the kaizen blitz, in which an improvement team is sequestered away from daily activities until significant parts of the problem-solving activity are complete. Modular Kaizen recognizes that taking critical employees and leaders out of mainstream work is simply not an option for many organizations today.
The Modular Kaizen approach is complementary to the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) and Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC) models of quality improvement. The basic PDCA approach, using tools designed for Modular Kaizen, is introduced in Chapter 2, “Continuous versus Breakthrough Improvement.” The more robust approach based on the DMAIC structure of Lean-Six Sigma is explored in Chapter 5, “Remove Disruptions to Improve Flow.”
The contemporary poet Kathleen Norris shares a perspective that is consistent with the type of disruptions we encounter in our daily work:
Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them but you can’t. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin. 1
The intent of improvement models such as total quality management, Six Sigma, and PDCA is to anticipate difficulties and delays caused by variation in a planned process or the influence of external events. Modular Kaizen is based on defining expected performance, setting goals to attain customer outcomes, and planning and executing processes that effectively and efficiently achieve those desired outcomes in a predictable and sustainable fashion. Modular Kaizen refers to these difficulties and delays as “disruptions.”
The word kaizen comes from the Japanese words kai , meaning “change,” and zen , meaning “good.” Organizations that want to implement Modular Kaizen must be willing to embrace constant change and continuous improvement toward an ever-increasing standard of excellence. 2 Although the basic tenet of kaizen centers on continuous improvement, the improvement either can be incremental within the existing process or can result in a major redesign.
The Modular Kaizen model builds on the proven success of earlier improvement models identified by Joseph Juran, 3 W. Edwards Deming, 4 and the more recent practitioners of Lean and Six Sigma. 5 A basic problem-solving model begins with a clear understanding of the problem. A seven-step model is shown in Figure 1.1 and is described as follows: “Understand and define the problem Collect, analyze, and prioritize data about the problem symptoms, determine the root cause(s) of the most significant symptoms Identify possible solutions Select the best solution Develop an action plan Implement the solution Evaluate the effectiveness of the solution in solving the problem” 6
The generic problem-solving model illustrated in Figure 1.1 is consistent with either an incremental or a breakthrough improvement activity.

Modular Kaizen Supports Both Incremental and Breakthrough Improvement
There are two fundamental philosophies relative to improvement. Improvement may be achieved gradually, taking one small step at a time. A dramatically different concept is practiced by proponents of breakthrough improvement, an approach frequently referred to as process reengineering or process redesign. Both approaches have proven to be effective depending on the circumstances, such as the size of the organization, the degree of urgency for change, the degree of acceptability within the organization’s culture, the receptivity to the relative risks involved, the ability to absorb implementation costs, and the availability of competent people to effect the change. 7 Figure 1.2 illustrates the incremental and breakthrough approaches.

Continuous improvement is a series of small changes based on incremental updates to a current process within the organizational library of processes that is defined, documented, and measured for sustainability. Breakthrough improvement is accomplished either by making significant changes to existing process activities or by revisiting required outcomes and rethinking how the process works at a basic level. Major redesign activities provide large jumps in improvement relative to the i